"I was really pleased with the response," Cooper told Cohen, who is also openly gay. "it's nice. I think it's important to send a message to, especially young people, there's nothing to be ashamed of and you can be successful and you can have a life and you can have many interests and this is one part of your life."

He explained of the former View co-host: "I haven't thought about Star Jones in I don't know how long. I was unaware she was even on TV still but she apparently shows up on a morning show . . .out of the blue Star Jones said after I sent this email Star Jones said this was a ratings ploy by me to boost ratings," Cooper complained, noting he "wasn't even on the air" on his CNN show for days after his coming-out note went online.

"I seem to recall her hocking her wedding every single day to get free products when she was on The View," he added of Jones. "I seem to recall her lying about her gastric bypass surgery and making everybody else lie about it as well. So for her to suddenly emerge out of the shadows and suddenly attack me for this, I couldn't believe it."

"I don't even want to give Star Jones the attention," Cooper continued. "We invited Star Jones to come on this show and she turned us down."